Malwarebytes 3.1 won't launch

[joltsu]

Hey,

I was prompted to update my older version of Malwarebytes to 3.1 today. I did just that, ran the installer but it won't launch. The process can be seen in Task Manager, but the interface is nowhere to be seen. I've reinstalled multiple times (using the mb-clean tool as well), but the best result I've managed to get is the tray icon, which has functioned once. Even through that I cannot get the main interface to open, and therefore can't really do anything.

I've attached the files from mb-check and FRST, running on Windows 7 64-bit. I've encountered zero issues with the older version of Malwarebytes before, but this one just refuses to launch. No error messages or anything, just simply nothing showing up no matter what. Most of the time the tray icon fails to show in the taskbar as well.

Thanks in advance.

Addition.txt

FRST.txt

mb-check-results.zip

Edited June 14, 2017 by joltsu

[dcollins]

Can you please follow the instructions outlined below:

1. Download the following Procdump.zip file: Procdump.zip
2. Right click on procdump.zip and then choose properties
3. In the window that pops up, click the unblock button near the bottom and then click ok
   
4. Extract procdump.zip.
5. Open the folder where the files were extracted
6. Double click the Malwarebytes icon on your desktop to attempt to launch Malwarebytes
7. In the folder from step 6, right click "6 - mbamservice_kernel.bat" and select Run as administrator.
8. The window should open for a few seconds and then close
9. Perform steps 7 and 8 again, but right click 3 - mbam_kernel.bat this time
10. There should be four new files in the folder that ends with .dmp
11. Right click the DMP files and choose Send to -> Compressed (Zipped) folder
12. Reply with the dump file
    • If the files are too large to upload, please upload the files to wetransfer.com and send them to dcollins@malwarebytes.com

[joltsu]

Thanks for the quick reply! I managed until step 6 but when opening the first .bat file the command prompt window just says "Waiting for process named -mk..." and never closes. Same thing happens with the latter .bat file. All the processes (mbam.exe, MBAMService.exe and mbamtray.exe) are running. The tray icon does respond, but only unticking the checkboxes seems to do anything. Exiting Malwarebytes through the tray icon does shut down all processes, but after that it fails to launch again.

Edited June 14, 2017 by joltsu

[dcollins]

Sorry, please try downloading the zip file again and performing those steps

[joltsu]

Alright great, seems to be working now.

I only got two .dmp files though instead of four, though.

joltsu_dmp.zip

[dcollins]

Thanks for this, it should help us figure out what's going on. Can you try the following as well please:

1. Reboot into Safe Mode
2. Open MB3
3. Under Settings -> Protection, disable Self-Protection
4. Reboot back to normal mode
5. Attempt to open MB3

[joltsu]

I tried that, and while the MB3 interface did open up in Safe Mode, I couldn't disable Self-Protection. Clicking the on/off switch did nothing with the Self-Protection settings, whereas switching other settings functioned just fine.

[dcollins]

Was Self-Protection already in the off state or was it in the on state?

[joltsu]

Been away for a while so a bit of a late reply, but Self-Protection was already enabled when I opened up the settings.

[dcollins]

If you click the Self-Protection toggle once (as if to turn it off) and then reboot back to normal mode, does Malwarebytes still not open?

[joltsu]

Yes, at first clicking on the toggle did nothing (as in it wouldn't switch off), but now that I tried it I was able to switch it off. Upon restarting, the issue of the interface not opening up persisted.

[dcollins]

With Self-Protection off and the interface not showing, can you please gather the diagnostic logs that you posted in the first step again? Thanks

[joltsu]

Sure, here they are.

dump.zip

[dcollins]

Sorry, I meant the diagnostic logs you posted in your initial post (mb-check-results.zip, FRST.txt, Addition.txt). Sorry for the confusion.

[joltsu]

Ah my bad, these should be the right ones then!

mb-check-results.zip

FRST.txt

Addition.txt

[joltsu]

Anything new on this? Malwarebytes seems to work just fine when in safe mode, but problems persist when booting normally. I also kept getting the notification of my premium trial running out every single time I started up my computer, until I once booted in safe mode to do a scan. After that I haven't seen the notification once. I also tried updating to the latest version, but no luck. I can scan in safe mode so that's cool, but it is a tad bit inconvenient.

[Firefox]

Have you installed the latest version with CU Update 160 to see if it helps with your issues?

https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb3

[joltsu]

Yep, that's the version I updated to just a day ago or so (uninstalled using mb-clean as well). Unfortunately the problems persisted.

[Firefox]

4 hours ago, joltsu said:

Yep, that's the version I updated to just a day ago or so (uninstalled using mb-clean as well). Unfortunately the problems persisted.

Thanks for confirming that, we will have to wait for @dcollins to review those logs and get back to you...

Thanks for understanding

[dcollins]

It looks like Self-Protection is still on. Can you try disabling it again, or try disabling it while in Safe Mode?

[joltsu]

My Premium trial expired so it shouldn't be active. I did just boot up in Safe Mode, but it didn't allow me to do anything about self-protection because of the aforementioned reason. Is there any other way? I have noticed that changing settings in Safe Mode doesn't always do anything when I boot up normally (as in they don't remain changed).

Anyways, I attached new logs if something had ended up changing from the last time I posted them.

FRST.txt

mb-check-results.zip

Addition.txt

[dcollins]

OK, it looks to be off now. Are you seeing the same issue where the MB3 window won't open?

[joltsu]

Yes, unfortunately so. Task Manager shows the process go up to ~4000K memory usage, after which it seems to freeze completely with the interface not opening.

[joltsu]

Just downloaded the newest version (and did a fresh install using mb-clean), but now it won't work in Safe Mode even, which I was earlier able to use to do scans now and then. Now the same issue I've had ever since 3.1/3.2 was released happens there, too. The process just hangs at ~3500-4000K memory usage, and in Safe Mode it occasionally pops up an error message saying "Unable to connect the Service", with the popup window header saying "Unable to start".

This was my go-to virus scanner before the new version, and it worked like a charm, but this is getting a bit hopeless. Hope there's a solution to this someday.

 

EDIT: Seems that the author of this topic is dealing with the exact same issue. 

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by joltsu

[dcollins]

We have identified a rootkit that can cause this issue, can you please try the following:

1. Download MBAR from https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mbar
2. Run the downloaded program, and click Ok on the window that pops up to extract MBAR to the default directory on your desktop
3. After extracting, MBAR should launch
4. Click Next, and then click Update
5. Once the update finishes, click Next
6. Press Scan to scan your machine
7. If anything is found, follow the instructions to clean up the infection
8. Reboot and attempt to  run MB3 again